Cookie Monster
by ladyvice
Summary: Sten of the Beresaad is a self described monster who murdered a family in a blind rage. Can a certain confectionary treat calm the beast within? Takes place immediately before meeting him in Lothering.


The child stared up at him in his cage with big, quizzical eyes. He was too short to be of use, too slovenly to be as hungry as he seemed, already halfway through the small handful of confections. Brown tussled hair and a dirt stained face marked him as one of the new arrivals fleeing the Darkspawn in the south. As Sten looked at him, all he could think of was how ashamed the boy should be of himself. The boy dug his hand deeper into the sack he was holding and brought out another flat, brown thing and shoved it into his mouth. Still crunching it between his teeth, the boy brought out yet another and slid it through the bars at Sten.

"I do not wish your sympathy, human."

"I don't have any sympathy." The boy rattled his bag and leaned up toward Sten on his tiptoes with the cookie. "All I've got is these cookies. You look hungry. Why are you in a cage? Are you a birdman?"

The Qunari frowned deeply and nudged the boy's hand away with his knee. "I do not wish to speak to you. Go away."

"If I were a bird, I would fly away from here."

"You may walk away or is your weight too burdensome?"

"I walked all the way here from Ostagar. I'm tired. And hungry." He dropped the cookie he was offering Sten to the bottom of the cage, freeing his hand to fish out another for himself.

With a raised, white eyebrow, Sten said, "I find it hard to believe you were there."

"I'm a page to King Cailan!" The boy puffed out his chest proudly for a moment before letting it fall. A sad look overcame the child as he gnawed slowly on his cookie. "But everyone is saying he's dead. I don't know what to do."

"So you pester me with your poisonous confections?"

"They aren't poison! Try one! My mother made them."

"I am not hungry." As if summoned by his denial, Sten's stomach began to growl loudly, attracting the attention of the guards.

"But you are hungry. And these are very good."

He sighed and squatted down, staring at the circular trap. Soon, the humans would leave him there in the cage to be eaten alive by Darkspawn. He had escaped them once before but this time he would put up no fight. What would be the point? Already, without Asala, his sword, he was dead. "If I eat this…thing….will you go away?" The boy nodded furiously, wide wet eyes widening. Pathetic, Sten thought. Someone will surely gouge out such large targets.

His upper lip quivered as he brought the thing closer to his face. It was warm from being in the bag so close to his body so long. Dark spots decorated the brown surface of it. It looked more like waste than food. But that did not bother him. Most of the food these humans ate held no purpose. It did not nourish or strengthen. It only made for fat, sluggish page boys. "What are these dark spots? Blood?"

"N…No! Chocolate!"

"I do not know this word…Chocolate." He looked back down at the boy's eager face and gave another loud sigh. If it would make the tiny, plump human go away, he would eat it. Slowly, he lifted it to his mouth and took a bite.

Suddenly, he understood some of the words he had encountered in the human lands. Sweet…that was what they called the flavor. Crumbly….texture. Desire, love, good, delicious… Hope. It was a spell cast over him by this boy and his bag of magic confections. Sten closed his eyes and tried to think of an appropriate Qunari word to describe the object. There was, of course, none. "Do you like it?"

Sten's eyes flicked open. "I was mistaken."

"About what?"

"Humans."

"Hey you!" One of the guards had finally wandered back toward Sten's cage and spotted the boy. The dirt faced youngster gathered up his bag, clutching it as if it were his mother, and ran as fast as his stout little legs could carry him to the Chantry. Before the guard could come and take away Sten's new discovery, he shoved the entire sweet spell into his mouth and chewed.

Just then, a group of heavily armored folk and a wicked looking woman in scant clothes approached his cage. The woman in front, well built with a sword, cocked her head to look at him curiously. "What are you doing in this cage?"

Sten swallowed the cookie. It went down like Qunari food but tasted much, much better. "Sitting."


End file.
